Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Fantastic

Abso-bloody-lutely fantastic. There's no other way to describe how it felt being a part of it. The Olympics. Here in the UK.

I had a wonderful time. I got to see our Jade in the Tae Kwon Do. I got to see the Aussie Women beat the Russian women in a hard-fought Bronze Medal basketball game. And sang You're The Voice (very out-of-tune and totally off-key) along with the Aussie fans.

I got to see the Olympic Rings on Tower Bridge.

I talked to people from all over the world who had come to cheer on their teams.

I discovered for myself that although most of the time London has no patience, no time, for this there was time. And the volunteers in those awful colours were brilliant. Patient, cheerful, helpful, polite, stuffed full of knowledge and useful information and a wonderful contribution to the Olympic spirit.

I got to be a part of it. And it was magic.

Ze

Monday, August 13, 2012

Hype Night

Thanks Cheri, take it away,
Hey everyone!

It's been awhile since I've shared an update about what's going on with Cocktail Hour and the C-Spot family of sites.

I'll start with Cocktail Hour. We've been expanding our focus! We posted the first episode of our newest venue, Flicks & Swizzle Sticks which features a discussion of kick ass women in a few great films. This new feature is planned to be released monthly, each with a different theme and guests.

We're also gearing up for a series of discussions with author Bev Prescott who will talk about issues of diet, exercise, and stress management. She's been discussing these things on her blog for a little while now and the response has been fantastic. The first episode of that will be recorded late this month and if you have a question you'd like to ask, you can email cocktailhour.show at gmail.com. Colette Moody is preparing to begin recording her own regular show with Cocktail Hour, too. It's been a very exciting few months!

C-Spot reviews has gained two new regular reviewers and we've also begun to review non-lesfic books and graphic novels. But since we still read 99% lesfic and femslash, that's still what you'll find on the site. I've been running a daily online "newspaper" that collects tons of articles about lesbian fiction, femslash, and LGBTQ news so, if you're looking for a single place to go to get some info, you can check out C-Spot Daily: http://reviews.c-spot.net/daily. Just in case you're looking for a little dark humor, I also run offtopic.c-spot.net where you can find the Off Topic video show and the Dear Bitch advice column.

It feels like my friends and I are always coming up with ideas for new projects so I'm happy that The Grunts here are so generous with their time and energy and allow me to share rambles with you. Take care and happy reading!

Check it out and enjoy the updates.

Elisa

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Monday, here we come!

Lazy weekend for us (nothing unusual). I did manage to get the living room carpet cleaned on Saturday. Friday I did the boys' room. I'll do little e's this week since she'll be at her other mom's. Tomorrow I tackle our bedroom. The actual cleaning won't take long since the bed takes up most of the floor. Mostly my time will be spent moving comic boxes from my side of the bed out of the room. I really need to get busy and input them into my database and thus transfer the boxes to the storage unit. E would be very happy I'm sure. Sad to say the comics just keep coming in so my side of the bed won't be boxless for long.

Tamara

Saturday, August 11, 2012

What are we missing?

Do you know of any sites we totally miss? Do you have a favorite writer's page we don't go to? If so please let us know. Lately it seems we are catching less and less and that is not our goal. So help us out and others will be appreciative as well.

Same goes for all you writers or ramblers share happily please...

Thanks and enjoy the updates1

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

Friday, August 10, 2012

Hype!

August 16...mark your calendars.
Warrior Princess 102: Fans STILL Discussing 'Xena'

blogtalkradio.com/allaine/2012/08/17/warrior-princess-102-fans-still-discussing-xena
F4F Radio has been discussing "Xena: Warrior Princess", even now enormously popular among fans of lesbian pairings on TV because of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship, every six months for the past three years. In May 2012 it was time for a fifth conversation, and appropriately enough we welcomed back author/filmmaker Kim Pritekel, who had been involved with the previous three Xena shows as either a guest or a cohost. Rather than focus on fan fiction or "uberfic" that time, however, that night we began discussing the television show itself. Kim and I were joined, not by Xena fanfic authors, but by two more longtime fans of the show - Zea Apa and Kelly Neal. And we were prepared to talk about EVERYTHING we loved most about the show, from the subtext to the story arcs to the comedy. What we were not prepared for was how much time we'd need. When it was time to wrap up, we'd only covered HALF of what we wanted to discuss. So tonight, everyone returns to pick up where we left off. And this time, we'll also be joined by Adm_Hawthorne, a guest from my last Rizzoli & Isles show, who was slated to appear in May but couldn't make it. BATTLE ON!

Allaine
www.blogtalkradio.com/allaine

Be sure to tune in!

Tamara

Thursday, August 09, 2012

Weekend in Sight

Unbelievable how fast time slips by. My work week is almost over. Looking forward to the weekend. We are going to go see DogFest on Saturday. We'll have fun watching all the pooches.

Hope Ze enjoyed her time at the Olympics, I am jealous.

May you all have great Friday and weekend. Now back to the basics.

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

London.

We're here. London is just as noisy, dirty, smelling, chaotic, frenetic, and rude as I remember. And it's very warm and rather humid here. It feels like home.

And yet not home any more - because I love Devon. I love being almost in the country. I love the slower pace of life. I love that people say, "Thank you." to bus drivers in Devon, that people stop and ask if you need help if you look lost. In London they grumble, sigh dramatically & jostle you out of the way.

But here is where the Olympics are. *bounces*

I was right - I didn't sleep much last night. And I have to be up at 5am to get to the arena in time - and it's gone 11pm and I'm not in bed yet.

But it's THE OLYMPICS!!

See you next week folks. Goodnight and may you God/s go with you.

Ze

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Almost There.

Almost at the Olympics.

And by this time tomorrow I will be in London.

I will probably be completely unable to sleep tomorrow night. Partly because I'm a big kid and I'm far too excited to be able to sleep, and partly because the morning session of the Tae Kwon Do starts at 9am. We have to be at the arena two hours prior to the start. This means we have to get up at 5.30. And I'll be so scared I'll oversleep that I won't be able to sleep at all. No matter - I can sleep next week, after the adrenaline wears off.

Hope you have all been able to watch the games. Or at least some of them. Because they've been brilliant. Last night women's footy match between Canada and the USA was a cracking game. And Jess Ennis' gold in the heptathlon was a phenomenal achievement.

Forty-eight medals - twenty-two of them gold - not bad for a little island nation of just over 63 million people.

And it's especially good because I get to lord it over my brother-in-law because Australia are (at the moment) a very long way behind... *g* (He always gives me a hard time over rugby and cricket - not to mention he supports a different Aussie Rules team to me - and they beat us recently.)

I'm dead tired but I don't even think I can sleep tonight - I'm far too hyper. Is it Thursday yet??

Ze

Monday, August 06, 2012

Sun and Heat

Yesterday we hit a record high for Seattle...95. Fortunately E and I spent a good chunk of the evening in the air-conditioned comfort of The Triple Door watching Kasey Chambers kill it with her band. The venue isn't huge but the sound was great. And Kasey Chambers knows how to put on a great show. I'm so glad we didn't miss out on this since we've both been waiting for Ms. Chambers to come to Seattle. Now we're both counting the days until she comes back.

Now if we could just get Lori McKenna to come to Seattle....

Tamara

p.s. If you're at all a fan of solid country, keep an ear out for Ashleigh Dallas. She was part of Kasey Chambers' band and she has a fantastic voice.

Sunday, August 05, 2012

Something Different

Later this evening T and I are going to actually go out and leave the kids at home...a rarity for us. However, one of our very favorite musicians is in town (Kasey Chambers) and since she lives in Australia we may not have another chance to see her real soon.

Enjoy your update!

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

Saturday, August 04, 2012

Hype!

We're down to the wire for the Caring for Kara auction. It ends August 5th so hit the site and place your bids.

Tamara

Friday, August 03, 2012

TGIF

Title says it all.

Peace, Health, and Happiness.

Elisa

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Blah

Not much to say tonight so I'll let you get to reading.

Tamara

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Olympics Again

Today is Lammas - hope those Christians who observe this feast have a good one. Tomorrow is Lugnassad in the northern hemisphere and Imbolc in the southern, we wish our Pagan & Wiccan readers a good feast.

On to the Olympics. (Sorry to those readers who aren't fans of sport and who are likely bored rigid by the whole thing but I'm stoked about it and will probably still be bouncing for weeks after it's over *g*).

The opening ceremony was bloody brilliant. Quirky, eccentric, full of history, allegory, literary references, music, a quick celebration of our beloved NHS, a homage to the victims of the London bombings of July 2005. It reached out to the rest of the world, included all the competing nations in the celebration, via the petals which made up the cauldron. And had that brilliant "passing the torch" moment. And the cauldron?? Spectacular.

I'm just sorry that our friends in the USA didn't get to see it all. (I hope the rest of you did). A lot of the meaning was lost because of the huge cuts the broadcaster made - just so it could pack in the adverts. What with that and the fast-food monopoly and crackdown on the symbols... Isn't it nice to know corporate greed still trumps celebrations of national pride, global unity, and cultural diversity??

Fortunately the BBC have the rights to the live coverage here - which is excellent. The BBC does not show adverts. Coverage is continuous and uninterrupted. And brilliant. (Apart from the odd dozy presenter!!) Love Clare Balding, Hazel Irvine, Gabby Logan, and even Sue Barker, but oh Lord!! Gary Lineker couldn't ad-lib if his life was at stake!!

And through the wonders of digital TV we have the "red button". In other words as well as one of the main BBC channels have extensive coverage, and one of the minor BBC channels, we get to press a button on the remote control handset and there are 24 multi-screen sub-channels to pick from. The BBC are showing every single sport live and in full. (Or at least as full as is humanly possible). I've always grumbled that I never get to see my favourite sports as they're mostly considered "minority" sports and consequently hardly ever got coverage. Unless a miracle happened and it looked as if we'd get a medal.

This time?? I'm spoilt for choice. There is so much to see and all sports are covered. What do I watch?? The archery?? The fencing?? Hockey?? Canoe?? Shooting?? Women's football?? (And I'm chuffed that both our women's and men's team have qualified for the quarter-finals.) So much to see.

I hardly ever watch TV - this week I can't be moved from in front of it whenever I'm home. And don't even try to prise my fingers from the remote control!! Your life could be in danger!!

Better even than the TV - last weekend I got to watch the women's football live, in person, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Magic!!

And next week I'm up to London to see even more events.

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Life is good.

See you next week (still bouncing), goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze